43 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

More than I thought it was going to be just based on the blurb. So much detail and captivating drama, it really draws you in and puts other steamy romance novels to shame. Yeah, the first part is about what you expect (Lolita-ish), but it grows way beyond that in a new direction I hadn't been expecting in the second half. A page-turner, just like her others.

A provocative book. Intensely erotic. The novel is about Belinda. She is 16, a child, with a woman's desires. This is a story about forbidden passion. Anne Rice turns up the heat as soon as you start to read. Belinda wants Jeremy Walker, a mature artist who illustrates children's books. Jeremy is accustomed to painting and photographing little girls but Belinda is no child. The author plays to your sense of justice. I felt as guilty as Jeremy as I turned the pages and just as tangled in the seduction. A shocking series of events remove all traces of innocence from them both. I read this book because I was an Anne Rice fan but this book stands on it's own merit, a compelling story.

I could not put this book down. The "disturbing" element in this book hooked me right away and as I kept reading I no longer found it disturbing. I was pushing for the guy I thought was utterly sick in the first chapter! Typical Anne Rice, the characters are deap and the detail is fantastic. It kept me reading even though I found it I read it through the night - and I don't sacrafice sleep EVER.

Definitely an adult book - and not for those who are uncomfortable with sex scenes. I enjoyed it, although the subject matter (a romance between a 40 something man and a teenager) is what a friend of mine calls "just a bowl full of wrong."

This book certainly doesn't waste any time. It begins with Jeremy Walker, a famous 44-year-old illustrator of children's books spotting beautiful sixteen-year-old Belinda smiling at him in a San Francisco bookstore at one of his many book signings. Dressed in a short Catholic school uniform he's already mesmerized by her, wondering what it would feel like to reach under her plaid skirt and... against his better judgment he sleeps with her during his press party only to awaken and find her gone. Unable to get her out of his mind he brings her into his home once found again, fascinated by who she is and where she comes from. As they grow closer he starts to photograph and paint her with a passion he's never felt before. Belinda is extremely carefree and uninhibited so most of them are taken nude (or partially so), but always with some kind of theme that many would deem kinky yet they consider to be art...a celebration of the body and the sensuality of their love. He soon discovers she's got many secrets, though, and is determined to learn what they are, despite her threats of leaving if he does...

I had a hard time getting into this book. Maybe it's because every time the book talked about how seductive and sexy Belinda was I found myself thinking "But she's only 16!". Maybe I'm just too uptight for this book. Or maybe it's just not that good. All I know is that all the "dramatic" ending inspired in me was a big eyeroll.

A very erotic story about a taboo subject - a much older man and an underadge girl. She is very much the seductress despite her young age, and he succumbs to her charms despite knowing he shouldn't. I read the book in a very short period of time. It was one of those few that I've ever read that I simply could not put it down unti the last page.

A very Anne Rice book sans vampires. It's about a 44 year old illustrator of children's book rethinking and rediscovering his life with a 16 year old famous, beautiful, willful actress. Very well written, if a little disturbing. If you like Anne Rice, this is definitely a book to read.

I thought that the book was a little slow to start off with. It seemed that it took forever for the author to get to the exciting parts, though I am not sure that you would call a romance between a 16 year old girl and a man who is old enough to be her father "exciting." It offered an interesting perspective of what a child growing up in the limelight of movies and Hollywood may be like. I thought that it was okay, but I haven't read very many of her books to be able to rate her as an author.

OK - You have to suspend your belief - Accept the fact that this is about a 16 year old girl and 44 year old man. Now that we've accepted that, let's talk about the story. This is a great love story. This is a great story about finding yourself and learning about who you are and what power you hold in the world. I can't get over how well presented the story was and how developed the character was. The only complaint I have is that some points were very long and drawn out - For that, 4 and 1/2 stars! A great read, worth the time and emotional investment that you will put into it. Give it a try and suspend the realism that drives us all.

A tangled love between a much older man and a teenage girl. Very graphic with sexual situations. I read this first when I was 16 years old and didnt remember much about it other then the sex stuff. I have re-read it since then and found it much more enjoyable. So maybe not for "young" readers, unless mature enough to understand. Great story tho and I will read it again!

An erotic and controversial tale of seduction and obsession from the best-selling author of Exit to Eden. Belinda is the ultimate fantasy. A golden-haired object of desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and famous 44-year old illustrator of children's books, Belinda is a forbidden passion, both beguiling and bewitching.

The storyline was really good but it was heavy on the details for me. Rice describes every little thing in great detail. That's great for giving you a mental picture and helping you to envision the environment of the characters, but it's bad for moving the storyline along at a nice clip. This book would have been fabulously written in 250-300 pages as opposed to 400+. But that's an Anne Rice book for you. I will be reading more from this author in the future.

Another erotic Anne Rice book involving a 16 year old girl and a 40 something children's book author. He becomes obsessed with her and she needs him. They use each other until they can't live without each other.

The storyline was really good but it was heavy on the details for me. Rice describes every little thing in great detail. That's great for giving you a mental picture and helping you to envision the environment of the characters, but it's bad for moving the storyline along at a nice clip. This book would have been fabulously written in 250-300 pages as opposed to 400+. But that's an Anne Rice book for you. I will be reading more from this author in the future.

Enchanting story! I loved it! The narrative was elegant and the characters so three-dimensiional, I suffered with every blow to either of the two lead characters in their battle to be together. The erotic/sexual encounters were handled masterfully. The descriptions were stimulating without being lewd or crude in any way. The age of the girl was always a part of the story, naturally, and obviously that was a key part of the erotic nature of the book, the stigma of having sexual relations with an underage child, no matter how mature in other ways, but it was the love these two had for each other that gave me the greatest satisfaction. Highly recommened.

This is not your typical Anne Rice book... best know for her Vampire books this is an altogether different setting. The Rolling Stones called it,"A Lolita for the eighties!, & said "Rice is a fearless writer. Call her the It Girl of contemporary fiction. Whatever the venue, she's never too squemish to reach out & touch it." While the Los Angeles Times, said it was "A sexxual fantasy... [yet] utterly charming." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, says it's "A fairy-tail romance [yet uniquely sensual]... full of innocent & decadence... [with] a slam-bang finale!"

Synopsis:
Belinda is the ultimate fantasy: a golden-haired object of desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and famous 44-year-old illustrator of children's books, this incredibly seductive woman is a forbidden passion because Belinda is only 16.

The ultimate fantasy. A golden-haired object of desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and famous 44 y/o illustrator of children's books, Belinda is a forbidden passion. She's sweet 16 and the most seductive woman he's ever known.

Belinda is the ultimate fantasy. A golden-haired object of desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and famous 44-year-old illustrator of children's books, Belinda is a forbidden passion. She's sweet sixteen - and the most seductive woman he's ever known.

Belinda is the ultimate fantasy. A golden-haired object of desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and famous 44-year-old illustrator of children's books, Belinda is a forbidden passion. She's sweet sixteen - and the most seductive woman he's ever known.